Blood traitors
by paganchic
Summary: A dark forbidden romance at Hogwarts threatens to destroy them both.


_**Draco and Ginny secret love/tragedy fanfic. **_

_**He knew as soon as he saw her she was trouble. A small ginger kid standing by her parents on the platform while four older brothers all shabby and ginger pushed and stumbled to get on the train. His father scoffed at the second hand robes. "Weasleys." he sneered. There was a new boy with them, scruffy black hair, all his items new. He was looking around worried. It was the boy from Diagon Alley. "Potter." Draco sneered like his father. Lucius' head whipped around. He saw the boy, a look of utter disgust graced his face. "Draco," he reached for and seized the front of his robes lifting him slightly off his feet without looking away from the boy. "Go and make friends with that boy. Purebloods deserve to be with their own kind." All Draco could see was her radiant ginger hair. She caught his eye and huddled against her mother's robes. Molly Weasley looked down at her youngest and followed her gaze to Lucius Malfoy. She swept Ginny behind her and placed herself between them surreptitiously.**_

_**Draco dreamt of her every night. Her pale skin and red hair haunted him. He had failed to make friends with Potter. It made no difference to him but he had to find out more about the girl. The Weasley boys disliked him and his father and there was little doubt her father would like him any more. He sighed watching his friends run into walls for each others amusement, she would have to come to Hogwarts soon, she couldn't be that much younger. he was up til all hours worrying, what if she was a sqib? what if she never showed up. Two agonizing years later, tormenting Potter and Weasley he saw her. She sat on the sorting hat stool in front of the school. "Griffyndor." Draco smacked his fist on the table in temper. He sulked around for the day before walking to the Owlery, he sent a school owl to her, **_

_**"Ginerva Weasley i think you're beautiful. Meet me tonight in the great hall following dinner. Come alone. Make sure you are not followed. D. M. "**_

**Draco didn't eat anything for dinner he just sat buzzing. dinner disappeared and people began to wander back to their common rooms herded by the new prefects. Draco waited and waited. Professor Snape found him asleep at midnight and sent him back to his house. **

**He was woken by the school owl tapping on his face. Draco gave it some coins and seized the message which he immediately threw to the side, it was a howler. "STAY AWAY FROM OUR SISTER, CREEP OR YOU'LL WISH YOU'D NEVER BEEN BORN. WE DO!" It tore itself to pieces. Draco remained pale as a ghost the whole day. Ginny bumped into him in the corridor knocking his books out of his hand. Draco gathered his books muttering about blood traitors and such, until he noticed the purple paper sticking out of the pages of his potions book. **

_**'My brothers got the owl before I did. I heard them talking at breakfast. Sorry about the howler they're nutters. Do you want to meet in the library before dinner? Throw a book at Harry in the next class if you do. G. W.' **_

**Draco's heart leapt to his throat. He shouted and jumped and ran to his next class. He walked straight up behind Harry and hurled the book at the back of his head at close range with all of his might. Snape sentenced him to clean the old potions bottles after school for a whole week. Sure enough within the half hour, the whole school heard about Draco throwing a book at Potter. The battle was on. Potter was petty. He waited around corners and lunged out of darkness in an effort to hex Draco who remained calm the bigger man. brushing his attempts to the side, Draco had other things on his mind. He met her in the library in a dark corner, in secret. They sat opposite each other but back to back each appeared to be studying independently. Small paper aeroplanes levitated between them with notes written on them. **

_**'What does your father do?'**_

_**'He works for the Ministry.'**_

_**'Me too, in muggle studies'**_

_**'My dad hates muggles. He says purebloods should be together and half-breeds exterminated.'**_

**There was a long pause between replies. Draco heard her moving her chair around, he winced and hoped he hadn't blown his chance.**

_**'I think so too. They only cause trouble.'**_

**His little heart lit up, **_**'they do. They cause all our problems, they're the reason we have to hide and we're truly superior.' **_

_**'They're dirty.' **_**Ginny's notes came in swarms Draco had no time to reply. **

_**'They are vicious.'**_

_**'They eat our offspring.'**_

_**'They take our jobs'**_

_**'And our women.'**_

**Draco realised that Ginny's handwriting had changed a few notes ago. And was now completely different on each note. He slowly turned to look into the face of Potter and the Weasley clan. Fred, George, Percy and Ron. Draco cringed, this was really going to hurt. Their wands went up at the same time. Draco woke up in the hospital wing a week later with a small cold hand holding his own. Ginny was sobbing into a handkerchief. She gasped when she saw him wake. Her eyes flicked to the door, she darted up and sped off. Draco sat up and coughed as pain wracked his body. Madame Pomfrey floated up the aisle leading Draco's father. Draco sank deeper into the bed. Madame Pomfrey turned her back and walked back to the nursing station. Lucius glowered at him, "Beaten down by blood traitors. I have never been so ashamed." He turned on his heel and walked away. Nothing could improve Draco's mood. All efforts to contact him had stopped, Ginny hurried away whenever she saw him in the corridors. The holidays came and Draco went home sulking around the manor.**

**Narcissa drew him aside one day. "Who is she?" Draco looked at his feet, "I don't know what you mean." She cocked her head as she spoke to him, "This girl that you're after. She's special. You think about her all the time." Draco nodded. "Is she pureblood?" Draco nodded. Narcissa smiled warmly, "I'll invite her and her mother over for lunch tomorrow." She summoned an owl, "What are their names?" Draco swallowed hard, "Ginerva. I don't know her mother's name." Narcisssa frowned, "Their family name, Draco. If you want to marry this girl one day, you must abide by formality. What is their family name?" Draco muttered. Narcissa nudged him, "I didn't catch that, you'll have to speak up." Draco sighed, "Weasley." Narcissa fainted on the spot. "MOTHER!" Draco shouted in horror. Lucius apparated into the room. He seize his wife and cast a charm to wake her. Her eyelids fluttered open, she smiled at her husband. She sneered towards Draco, "He wants to marry the Weasley girl." Lucius turned and backhanded Draco knocking him to the floor, "They are blood traitors! You will not see her again. If I hear of you meeting with this girl, talking to her or even glancing in her direction. I will pull you out of Hogwarts and send you to Durmstraag. where the halls are so cold, thick sheets of ice covers the walls in the summer. The Professors have tempers so brutal that a single glance is enough to kill the strongest man and the rules so strict one must ask permission to perform basic bodily functions. Do I make myself clear boy." Draco nodded frantically.**

**Draco grew thinner and paler on his return. He had heard horror tales from Durmstraag on a daily basis from his family owl courtesy of his father. A small half dead looking owl crashed into his room one morning he recognised it as the Weasley family owl. **

_**'D.M. i have been forbidden to see you by my father and brothers. I ran away when you woke up because your father frightens me but I sat by your bed whenever I was not in class and most of the nights. I miss you. Do you miss me? G.W.'**_

**Draco's heart skipped a beat before his father's warning rang through his head. **_**If I hear of you meeting with this girl, talking to her or even glancing in her direction. I will pull you out of Hogwarts and send you to Durmstrag. **_** Draco shuddered. He took out a quill to reply. What could he say? Draco glanced around the common room where the older students were sitting. Well bred youngsters quaffing butterbeer talking over their betrothments. Each family fighting for the highest honors and best matches to secure their rank in the wizarding world. This was the only world he'd ever known. Could he find happiness with a blood traitor? How long would they last before his father caught and dismembered him. And what of Ginny? Lucius would kill her slowly savouring each scream. Draco winced as he wrote. **

_**'G. W. I miss you more than words can say yet if I continue to see you my father will have us both brutally murdered. I don't want to you come to any harm. This must be goodbye. Yours forever, D. M.'**_

**He sealed the scroll with his family crest sighing as he did so. His skin began to creep. Someone was breathing down his neck, "How touching, how sentimental." Draco looked into the black eyes of Professor Snape. The other Slytherins cleared the common room in an instant. Snape conjured a chair and sat opposite he smelt faintly of firewhiskey. "Disobeying your father is either very brave or very foolish. But I loved a girl once who could not love me back, so I know how you feel... I will take this letter to your young lady this once...then no more. Your father has cast a charm on the school owls and if you use them he will be informed instantly. He has also visited several paintings and requested reports from their occupants on your activities daily. I suggest you find another girl to dribble over or alternatively... be very, very discreet." Severus took the parchment from Draco's hand and rose to leave. **

**"Sir?"**

**He turned back swaying slightly.**

**"What happened to your girl, sir?"**

**Snape sneered, "She fell for another young fool and bore him a son. She never so much as breathed in my direction again." **

**Professor Snape approached the Griffyndor painting, "Send out Ginerva Weasley this instant." The fat lady disappeared. The portrait swung open and Ginny stepped out in her dressing gown. As it swung shut Snape spied the Weasley clan and Potter standing behind it. "Would you care to stroll with me a while." He started walking. Ginny glanced around the empty corridors nervously well aware of the smell of alcohol on his breath and followed Snape to his office. He sat at the table. She remained standing eyeing the door. "I **_**will**_** leave it open, you have nothing to fear unless you have forsaken your potions essay which I will be expecting tomorrow." He knew she had handed it in that afternoon her work was always exceptional and always early, if only more students paid attention like Miss Weasley. Ginny relaxed slightly, Snape always made her nervous. Her brothers had told her tales of what he did to first years and she was still separating truth from fib. He gestured to the chair at her side. "Please sit... you are embarking on a dangerous liaison with the Malfoy boy. He has written you this love note. His father does not approve of your father. you are, I take it, aware of this." Ginny nodded she had often heard her father talking about Lucius Malfoy and all he was suspected of but they could never make the accusations stick. She could only assume it ran both ways. Did he just say love note? Her little face crinkled, "Why are you telling me this?" Snape stood tall, "I am not required to explain myself to first years. Here is your letter. Take care." The door flew further open with a loud bang. Professor MacGonagall stood in her nightgown and slippers, "Professor Snape, the students have informed me that you have taken Miss Weasley from her common room unescorted, smelling of firewhiskey and asked her to follow you alone to your office in the middle of the night. You must recognise the impropriety of such an action, Severus. What were you thinking?" Severus gestured to the little red head reading the scroll tears running silently down her cheeks, "My door is always open Minerva, she sits here **_**unmolested**_**." He deliberately strayed from the word unharmed, few people could intimidate Minerva MacGonagall or make her uneasy but Severus had that particular talent. He continued after watching her squirm in discomfort, "One of my students asked me to see that she received her letter." Minerva scowled, she snatched the letter from Ginny and read it. Her hard look softened immediately. She sighed and handed it back patting Ginny on the head softly. "I'm sorry my dear, sometimes these things are not meant to be... perhaps when you are older you will understand." She shepherded the crying girl into her own office. Ginny sat in the large plush red chair with a cup of hot chocolate. Professor MacGonagall stoked the fire and sighed, "love is a fickle thing, my dear. Something Professor Snape knows all too well. We all do, that is, to suffer for our art. Living in Hogwarts as we do isolates us all from our loved ones... do you love him?" **

**Ginny thought hard, she burst into a fresh round of tears. "I don't know...I really like him but he's so mean to my friends... and his dad's so mean... and scary... and I don't know..." Minerva laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You have strong feelings for him, he clearly has feelings for you. If it is meant to be you will find a way to be together forever. Here take this. It will help you sleep." She handed Ginny a small bottle of purple liquid, "Only a teaspoon before bed tonight then the bottle will return itself to me." Ginny nodded. It was past midnight, Professor MacGonagall escorted her back to Griffyndor house safely and returned to her own study to gaze in the mirror and reflect on the lost loves of her past, tears welling in her ancient, knowing eyes. **

**Ginny's brothers were waiting in the common room, "Are you ok?"**

**"Did he hurt you?"**

**"What did he want?"**

**" Have you been crying?"**

**" What's that in your hand?"**

**"I'm sending an owl to mum in the morning." **

**She looked at her feet, "I forgot to hand in my potions essay. He shouted at me and Professor MacGonagall gave me this to help me sleep."**

**She hurried back into the girls dorm knowing they couldn't follow her, took a teaspoon and watched as the potion bottle grew tiny wings and flew out the door. Her dreams were so vivid and strange. **

**She was standing alone in Diagon Alley. It was deserted in the middle of the day. She was carrying a baby with white blond hair to her chest. Something spooked her and she began to run, Lucius Malfoy suddenly as big as a giant chased her at ever increasing speed through the dark and winding streets laughing maniacally firing green bolts of light at her. Her baby sobbing and wailing. Someone called her name through the darkness, "Ginny." She turned towards the sound, Draco's dismembered body lay in pieces by her side each piece crawling towards her as best it could. "Ginny." She ran on tripping she watched from scuffed and bloodied knees as the baby landed safely in front of Lucius Malfoy. He raised his giant boot. She screamed.**

**"Ginny!" Cold water splashed in her face. She sat up with a start spluttering and coughing. Her mother sat at her bedside covered in soot. Ginny hugged her sobbing into her robes. "There, there." She hugged her close stroking her red hair, "I came straight in by flew this morning. Percy sent an owl last night but you know our Errol, didn't get in til sunrise. We'll just see who this Snape thinks he's dealing with." Ginny clutched at her robes shaking her head, "It wasn't Snape." Molly looked into her daughters tearstained face eyes filled with worry she spied the spidery notes on the floor beside the bed with a faint smile, "Oh love, what's his name?" Ginny began crying anew, "Oh honey it can't be that bad." Ginny shook her head pouting ferociously. Molly picked up the letter by the side of the bed, she almost dropped it when she recognised the seal. She glanced over its contents as a mother does. "Who'd have thought it." She tutted, "Young Draco has a soul. but he is right about his father. He would never approve of such a union because of the way we are. We are pureblood don't make any mistake but we associate with muggles and muggle-born's. It is this that separates us from the Malfoys, in a way it makes us better. No finer woman than a Weasley, eh?" Ginny dried her eyes nodding slightly, "I had the most horrible dream. I was holding a baby that looked like Draco and his father was chasing me through Diagon Alley." Molly raised an eye brow, she chewed on her lip before replying. "Have you ever had a dream before that has come true?" Ginny shook her head. Molly nodded half-sighing with relief. She hugged her once more, "In that case I have to go wake up your father for work and make sure he doesn't take that damned car." Ginny giggled. She changed into her school robes and skipped down to breakfast. She smiled coyly at Draco at the breakfast table before Fred spotted it and lobbed a bowl of porridge at his face for good measure. Poor lovesick Draco didn't flinch. The hall erupted into laughter and a brief food fight ensued. Snape apparated to their side and hoisted each twin up by one ear dragging them outside. Minerva running after him. Breakfast was cleared away by the house elves and Ginny approached him in the corridor she wiped the porridge of his nose with her pocket handkerchief and winked before scampering away. Draco sighed, he was woken out of his daze by Peeves throwing cold water on him. He stomped to class wringing wet and was soon dried off by Professor Sprout in the greenhouses. He floated through all his classes for weeks. He put on weight which due to his Quidditch training became muscle, he let his hair grow and became almost rugged in appearance. He even opted to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays and so did she. Molly smiled when letters were sent to the burrow asking permission to stay at school for 'holiday study'. She always replied by sending two lots of everything she baked. Toffees, cupcakes and butterscotch. Humming to herself as she packed them sweets and home cooked picnics. Draco and Ginny enjoyed those picnics in the grounds, they went swimming in the lake and wandered into the forest to explore in day light of course and never very far. They sat at the great hall table together apart from everyone else. Dumbledore nudged MacGonagall and pointed she nodded wiping a happy tear away from her eye. "Those were the days, Albus." She sighed, "It's a shame it will soon end." He nodded and wiped his own tear with the end of his beard, "It can only end." **

**Draco breezed into the Slytherin common room, dancing on air he dropped his broom on the floor and collapsed into the armchair with a sigh, he closed his eyes. It was the last Friday of holidays so the common room was deserted. A deep chuckle made him jump. He leapt to his feet. Lucius Malfoy stood in front of him. "In a good mood? And what pray tell has got you in such a good mood." He sneered and swung his cane. The tip cut Draco's cheek. A thin angry sliver of blood began to seep. "It's that girl! You've been seeing her, I know it! Pack your things. You are not staying here." Draco swallowed hard, "I am. I am staying here and I love Ginerva Weasley. When she is of age we will marry." Lucius scoffed, "You will marry who I say and you will thank me for my blessing. You are to marry Pansy Parkinson." **

**Draco recoiled, "She looks like a pitbull. I certainly will not."**

**Lucius sneered at the very height of his arrogance, "You believe me, a pitbull is better than an orang-utan. A pitbull breeds nicely. It has already been decided, she is of pureblood and she is **_**pure.**_**" Lucius accentuated 'pure' making it sound sordid, in order that Draco catch his gist. Draco laughed instead, "I'm not surprised she's pure. She's hideous. I' d rather marry a troll or a giant. And Ginerva is pureblood and I have every confidence she's pure. I know I am her first boyfriend and I have not laid a hand or otherwise on her." Lucius' left eye twitched, he was thinking. The lines in his forehead straightened triumphantly, "Her family are blood traitors. They consort with mudbloods." Draco gritted his teeth and took the chance, "Ginny doesn't. She hates mudbloods, she remarked only the other day how far her family had fallen from their noble roots." Lucius raised an eyebrow. Draco gulped, did his gamble pay off? Lucius disapparated. **

**Draco legged it. He bolted through the halls to the fat lady's portrait, "I must speak with Ginny Weasley. It's an emergency." The fat lady eyed him suspiciously. "Password."**

**Draco looked around in desparation, "I...I dont know. I'm not in this house. Please." She smiled, "Please, will do for now. Wait here." She disappeared. Ginny stepped out confused.**

**Draco grabbed her hand, "My father is here somewhere he could be back at any minute. You hate mudbloods, you think your family have fallen from noble roots and we were speaking on this topic the other day by the lake." He turned and legged it back to his common room on the other side of the castle. Ginny turned and gave a bewildered shrug to the fat lady who laughed, "I remember young love. Did you catch all he said, Dear?" Ginny nodded slowly, "I think so." "Come see me if you forget," She swung for Ginny to climb back up. **

**Draco dropped in the chair as his father apparated back, "She will attend lunch alone with your mother tomorrow. Tell her to wear her best. The formal invitation will arrive this evening... Why are you out of breath, boy?" Draco 's eyes swept the room quickly, "I left my broom on the Quidditch pitch. I raced back to get it before it was damaged." Lucius scowled, "If you leave that broom out of your sight for an instant boy I will skin you alive. It was not cheap" Draco nodded. Lucius disappeared. **

**"I can't do this." Ginny wailed. Draco was teaching her formal etiquette while Molly found something decent to wear, she had come in by emergency flew when Ginny sent an school owl. Draco ran through the correct cutlery at meals, answering all questions as though you hated mudbloods, not speaking to the house elves. How to curtesy when introduced. Molly returned she had a large box and was grinning from ear to ear. Ginny hopped up and caught the name on the box, "We can't afford that!" Molly nodded, "We can as long as you wear it to every Yule ball until your N. E. W. T. S. and then every other formal occasion until it falls to tatters." Draco stepped out pacing the corridor in front of the Griffyndor portrait. He heard Molly gush. He stepped back in and stopped dead. It was beautiful. Slytherin green with silver trimmed fitted bodice. Ankle length, wrist length, silver embroidery of ivy along the cuffs and just a hint of cleavage. Not that there was a lot of that, Ginny sulked. Draco sighed, "It's perfect. You're perfect." The owl arrived as she was changing, **

_**Narcissa Malfoy requests the pleasure of the company of Miss Ginerva Weasley tomorrow at 12pm for lunch at Malfoy Manor.**_

_**RSVP.**_

**Molly wrote a formal acceptance letter back immediately. Draco ran back to his common room waiting for his mates to return on the train. Ginny paced the floor repeating everything that Draco taught her. **

**At precisely 1100, a beautiful black flying coach with silver trim and green velvet seats arrived to pick up Ginny from Hogwarts. Her brothers watched from the Griffyndor windows unable to leave the room courtesy of minerva macgonalgall. Draco sat in Slytherin room biting his fingernails to the quick. Ginny arrived. Her hair was perfect, her dress was perfect and she felt like she would collapse every step closer to the house. The door was opened by a house elf who led her to the drawing room where Narcissa sat drinking tea. "Miss Ginerva Weasley." The elf announced before clearing the tea tray and leaving. Ginny curtseyed as she'd been shown. Eyes to the floor. Chin forward, picking up the edges of the skirt slightly. Narcissa gave an equal curtesy back, "Good Morning Miss Weasley, I trust you had a pleasant journey here." She took Ginnys hand and directed her to sit on the lounge opposite. "Oh yes, it was grand. I've never seen anything like it before." The elf reappeared with a small bell. "Lunch is served in the garden, Madam and Miss." Narcissa rose elegantly, Ginny followed behind her, the house was so dark and sombre if it got any wilder a funeral was likely to break out. Ginny stepped out into the blinding sun and gasped. As far as the eye could see a perfectly green manicured lawn with white peacocks basking in the sun beneath an orchard of cherry and apple trees. Ginny took her place across from Narcissa. Narcissa poured her some peach iced tea and offered from a large plate of tiny sandwiches. Narcissa tilted her head watching Ginny drink. She sipped her own absently. "My dear I will be frank. I don't want you to see my son ever again. But if he has faith I am willing to give you a chance. What do you see in Draco?" Ginny felt all his lessons seeping away, "I love being with him. He treats me well, like a gentleman should and he respects me as an individual not a member of my family." Narcissa nibbled on a sandwich, "You have no interest in his inheritance?" Ginny crumpled her little face and shook her head, " It would be nice to have nice things for a change but I've never thought of it before. Money has never been an issue at Hogwarts. We walk around the grounds or the library and my mother sends us homemade sweets and picnics to share." Narcissa arched an eyebrow, now that it was mentioned Draco had put on weight since last she saw him. She allowed Ginny to finish a sandwich and reach for another before her next question. "What are your feelings toward mudbloods?" Ginny's answer fell off her lips and she found herself giving one different to the one rehearsed mere hours before. "I can see the threat of muggles becoming aware of us through their witch children but I don't think it's a credible threat with the measures we have in place. The Ministry of Magic is working diligently to manipulate any muggle witnessed activity into a suitable explanation. I'm not sure what I think of half-breeds and half-bloods to register. I haven't really given it much thought to tell the truth." Ginny stopped when she heard herself. **_**To tell the truth.**_** She had not really noticed how Narcissa filled her glass so consistently but rarely sipped from hers until now. But she had sipped, "Did you give me veritaserum?" Narcissa breathed heavily feeling the effect from the potion she had instructed the elves to place in the tea, "Yes I did. I need to protect my son and my family." Ginny nodded, "Have i passed the audition?" Narcissa pursed her lips. She clearly did not want to give the answer. "I am satisfied. But I do not think my husband will be. I will speak to him later regarding this. May I say my dear, that is a beautiful dress, is it an original ...?" Ginny flushed, "As far as I know. Mother bought it specially for today." **

**The beautiful coach dropped Ginny home and she ran up the stairs to the common room. Taking off the lovely dress and stowing it away safely to be sent back to her mother. Ginny ran past her brothers and Potter and dashed to the Slytherin common room. She had been given the password by Draco the day prior but she couldn't be seen to use it and the hallways were teeming with youngsters. She had to wait outside.**

"**Weasley! What are you lost or something?" Pansy Parkinson and her group surrounded Ginny. **

**Ginny stood tall, "I'm waiting for someone. It doesn't concern you."**

**Pansy grinned looking more like a pit bull than ever before. "Waiting for Draco? You needn't bother. He's betrothed to me. So I win."**

**She pushed past her and gave the password to the portrait which swung open obediently. Ginny stood open mouthed in horror. Draco jumped down from the common room, "How did it go?" **

**Draco sat on his bum in the middle of the corridor holding the side of his face. Ginny had slapped him, called him something very nasty then bolted off down the corridor in tears. A crowd was gathering, "Nothing to see here." Professor Snape shooed them away. He hauled the stunned boy to his feet. "Go after her while there is still a chance." Draco snapped out of it and ran to the Griffyndor common room. **

**He stopped in front of the fat lady. "She went that way." The fat lady was standing on the edge of her frame pointing down the corridor. Draco ran in the direction. The fat lady turned around, "He's gone, dear." Ginny climbed down from the common room, "Thank you." She walked to Professor MacGonagall's office and knocked tentatively on the door. Minerva opened it and looked down into the red eyed, tear streaked face of Ginny Weasley. She herded her inside.**

**Draco was running around the grounds at the instruction of the paintings. Many of whom had spoken to the fat lady. He finally stopped under the stands of the Quidditch pitch. He collapsed in a heap sobbing for Ginny, what had gone so wrong that had felt so right? It had to be his father's hand.**

"**And she said they were betrothed." Minerva gave her a hug. "I know it won't make you feel any better but this had probably been arranged when they were born. Such is the way of some old families. If you like we can see how Draco feels about this?"**

**Ginny nodded a single tear creeping over the end of her eyelashes. Minerva summoned her crystal ball, "I could never see the future Ginerva, I could only see the present or the past... Draco Malfoy." Her voice began to echo and grow louder in the small room. Ginny looked deep into the ball. Draco was lying on the grass under the Quidditch stands bawling. Ginny looked away, "I don't want to see him like that." Minerva covered it with a cloth . She took the chair opposite. **

"**You will find a way to be together. I don't need prophecy to see that there is something special between you. You should go to him."**

**Draco lay on his belly waiting to die. He had only been outside for an hour but it felt like forever to him. "Draco?" He sat up. Ginny was sitting beside him. He pouted, "You hit me." She nodded, "I'm sorry it's just that. I really like you and when Pansy told me you were betrothed I just felt so..." "Pansy told you what?" Draco got to his feet. "She's not supposed to know yet. Not until next year. I wasn't supposed to know but my father..." Draco's jaw tightened, "My father told me. Either she was in the common room that night or my father is hurrying things along." Ginny gasped shaking her little head tossing red curls, tears welled in her eyes again. Draco leaned forward and wiped her tears with his handkerchief. "Don't cry Ginny. I could never marry Pansy. I love you." **

"**I love you Ginny. Where are you registered, Malfoy?" Potter stood over them. **

**Ginny leapt to her feet, "Leave him alone Harry. This is none of your business." She turned to Draco, her brothers had formed a tight ring around him. They shoved him from one side to the other. Ginny didn't have her wand she turned to run for help. Potter blocked her way. She booted him in the gonads and ran. She stopped outside the great hall. She couldn't tell a teacher her brothers would be expelled. She couldn't tell a student she didn't really have any friends, she had no time to summon her parents or Draco's mother. She had nowhere to go. She stood next to a suit of armour thinking. she watched her brothers come back in with Potter limping slightly. **

"**I can't believe she took off and left him."**

"**Maybe she's finally got the message."**

"**He has. "**

"**Do you think they'll ever find him?"**

**A chorus of laughter. **

"**Only if they know where to look."**

**Ginny waited til they passed and ran back outside. She ran under the stands, through the stadium, in the locker rooms. She stopped to think. They couldn't have put him far they'd only arrived a few minutes after her and she'd run all the way. She looked around and saw the Whomping Willow was still. Draco Malfoy was stuck in it's branches. Ginny pressed the knob as the tree began to stir, climbed up the tree and sat in the branches next to his beaten body she took his hand and started to cry anew. He squeezed her hand faintly. She sobbed, "We can't stay here forever. We can't leave they will find us. My father hates you and your father hates me. All i want is to be with you." Her tears ran down her cheeks in great turrets her little eyes were bloodshot making the green iris' glow.**

**Draco hauled himself up to a sitting position nursing his ribs with great difficulty, "Who says we can't stay here forever?" Ginny looked around in panic, "The tree will spring up any minute. It's beginning to stir now." **

**Draco clutched her hand and pressed it to his lips, "No not in the tree. I have an idea but it's a little bit drastic and you might not like it. Meet me in front of the junior girls bathrooms in an hour in full school uniform and braid your hair. I really like it that way."**

**The hour passed. Students continued to arrive in time for the first day of a new semester. The staff were planning the welcome feast for that night in Dumbledore's study while watching the children get off the train through a large magical mirror. there was laughing and drinking and general merriment. Minerva suddenly shuddered knocking over her glass. Dumbledore looked over at her, "I felt it too. What on earth was that Minerva?" The other teachers turned towards her in time to see the colour drain from her face. **

**Minerva ran to her study with the teaching staff hot on her heels. She rummaged for her crystal ball. "Ginerva Weasley." Her voice echoed off the stone walls. The staff gasped collectively. **

"**RUN! FIND THEM BOTH. HURRY EVERYONE. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE." Albus shouted.**

**Minerva sank into her chair, "No, not that way, Ginny. Anyway but that." Albus patted her back as she wept, "there may still be time."**

**But he was wrong Hagrid found them first. Huge tears rolling down his face getting lost in his beard. He dutifully carried the two little bodies to the infirmary for their parents to collect. Albus had the school decorations turned to sombre black in mourning. Minerva resigned her post as head teacher of Griffyndor. She retired to her home and was never heard of again. **

**For centuries to come students spoke in hushed whispers of the tragedy of that night and young couples avoided the junior girls bathroom. Found in the junior girls lavatories hanging by their ties hands clutched together. Their final breath shared only with each other. **

**But this is Hogwarts and as such, not where their story ends, no indeed. For Hogwarts is home to many a departed spirit. As time passed Draco and Ginny were frequently seen in the Hogwarts corridors and the great hall, holding hands as they floated through the boisterous classes of students, content in the knowledge that they didn't have to hide their love any longer because nothing could separate them now. Together forever, at last. **


End file.
